Victoria
by Accountnolongeractivethanks
Summary: What if, on that fateful day in Forks, Victoria had killed Bella? A fanfic dedicated to Victoria from Twilight.
1. Again

Chapter One

**Dear Readers,  
Hey! This is my second fanfic, but my first Twilight one, so I hope you enjoy it! (Disclaimer: I do NOT own Twilight or any of its characters; only the BRILLIANT Mrs. Meyer does)  
Please read, then review, so I can see if this fanfic is rubbish and that I should give up... or if you like it, that I should write more!  
Also many thanks to vivelarevolution, a close friend of mine, who has helped edit this chapter somewhat, and made brilliant suggestions – Alice, thank you!  
Also, a quick note – I have NOTHING against Bella in Twilight, so before I get hundreds of notices complaining about this story, please do NOT take it personally. **********

Thanks, Xanthemj.

How should I start this off?

My name is Victoria – that's all I've ever been called; at least, from what I can remember. I have scarlet eyes, and red hair. I am a vampire.

I could be standing right behind you, right now, and you wouldn't know. Or you could see me, and then blink, and I wouldn't be there. You could fall deeply in love with me, and then, when I lured you in, BAM! The end of your life. That's the beauty of being a vampire. We are _designed _to make _you_ come to_ us_, not the other way around.

I once travelled with two other vampires, James and Laurent, in a small coven. James was my lover, but he was killed by beings who have no right to be called vampires. And they are the reason why I am here now, running silently through the forest in Surrey, England. _They_ are the reason why I am so bitter: one of _them_ killed my Laurent. Perhaps because I killed one of their snacks. A human, by the name of Bella.

_We stood there, James, Laurent and I, watching as the small group of vampires left their game of baseball to come and greet us. Doubts were running through my mind; they smelled strange, like flowers but without any scent. One of them smelled... delicious, like a human, but I couldn't make it out; there were too many confusing smells. James and the males talked – I made out names. Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Edward, Bella. I noted the one called Edward standing protectively in front of the one called Bella. She had a cute little baseball hat on. I smiled, looking into her eyes, and she shifted nervously, looking away from me, trying to focus on one of the others. I kept staring at her. I felt powerful, making other people nervous, making them look away from me. I was in control. Then James sniffed the air, looked at the Bella girl, and tilted his head.  
"Hey, you brought a snack!"_

That was when I became so uncontrollable, even my beloved James could not stop me. As I realised that the girl was human, my instincts had kicked in. I had launched myself at her...

"_NO!"__ The boy called Edward yelled, pushing himself towards the girl._

_My body was on top of hers, she was writhing, screaming, begging. I could see the pain in her eyes, and I began to enjoy myself. This puny little human smelt so... _irresistible_. She was wriggling furiously under my grip, like a worm in the grasp of a hungry bird. Totally helpless, but still fighting for life. Pitiful, really._

I am passing fallen trees, covered in moss, and startled deer and small birds. I'm not thirsty – not yet, anyway – so these all pass me in a blur. The trees, still very green, remind me of that stupid little town in America. Forks, it was called. That was where it was done.

_My mouth was on her neck, she was screaming, but her volume lowered as I continued sucking the life blood from her body. It was so warm, so sweet, and so _delicious_! It smelled like freesias, or lavender... I couldn't stop myself; it was so addictive, so wonderful..._

_I was pulled from her still warm body by Laurent. My mouth was covered in red liquid, and as I wiped it off on my sleeve I looked around. I had been oblivious of my surroundings as I drank, and now let my eyes turn from the body on the ground to the landscape around me. The strange family had left, apart from the one called Carlisle._

"_You shouldn't have done that", he said quietly, staring me straight in the eyes._

_I felt slightly ashamed, but still completely satisfied. "I'm sorry, Carlisle. But I couldn't resist it..." I fluttered my eyelashes seductively._

_He didn't take the bait. "Bella is... was Edward's lover. He won't take kindly to her being dead. Because of you."_

_Damn. I hadn't meant to kill her... well, not completely, anyway. I looked over to her now lifeless body. She was sprawled over the ground, her head tilted to the right, her arms sprawled over the ground._

"_Yeah, she looks a bit... pale." I admitted._

I realise now that that was the most stupid thing ever to say. However, now is a little too late. It is because of my actions that I am here now, and not sitting in a nice warm cafe somewhere looking for my next meal. My actions. Mine.

I am still running through the woods, but I slow down as I reach a small clearing in the green green woods. It's full of flowers and grasses, and I stop for a rest, lying myself down in the grass and allowing myself to become perfectly still. We vampires don't become tired, but some of my remaining human instincts command me to rest (at least for a minute or two) to catch my breath. Which I don't technically need.

I lay in the long grass, too long to scratch against my stone skin, closed my eyes and listened to my surroundings. I could hear a stream gurgling not far from where I lay, and some blue tits and sparrows tweeting sweetly nearby. I frown in my trance-like state. Those birds are kinda annoying. I don't get up, though: the sun is warming my body very nicely.

I lie there in the grass for a while. It's relaxing. I listen a little more to the sounds around me. That's when I hear the shuffling, too far away to be a threat, but still making my brain kick into gear. I listen harder. Something is running, trying to flee – or hunt.

I take a breath and push my body into an upright position. I'm standing now, my hair reaching the top of the grass but my waist starting below the top of it. I listen again, my perfect ears straining to hear the tiniest sound.

It's someone running impossibly fast, maybe even faster than me. It's my tracker. He's found me. Again.


	2. Run

Chapter Two

I strained my ears to hear more, erasing the background noise around me and focussing on the things I really needed to hear. The small pitter-patter of feet came to my ears, and I was astonished to find my tracker headed straight in my direction. Yes, definitely the Edward boy – and he was speeding up. Bad news for me.

I was across the meadow in a flash, my legs once more running beneath me, carrying my perfect body at an extraordinary speed over the hard ground. My long red hair flew out behind me, and I welcomed the air that flowed around me as I ran through the green woods. I relished the speed and the fact that I could run so fast without even pausing for breath. My feet flew over the ground, and I dodged trees and branches with perfect ease. Running was by now second nature to me: I was at home here, although I was running from certain death. Well, a death other than the death I was already experiencing. I was a dead human body, transformed into a miracle of nature.

I am always astounded by myself and others like me: the fact that a being such as myself could come into existence by pure evolution. It is the lovely Mother Nature that puts us vampires on this sacred earth, and that feeds us with lower, inferior beings. The beauty, the fierceness, the need for blood, the animal instinct and the workings that are _me,_ exhilarates me down to the very depths of my soul. If I have one.

That's the thing about us vampires. We are built to kill. To kill humans, to be precise, although not all of us follow that rule. And that's why some of us believe we have no souls. To kill what we once were; that surely accounts to evil, to bad, to darkness, to wrong. Doesn't it? I believe that we have no souls, but that those stupid humans have none also. We don't need souls. I need blood. That is enough.

I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of feet getting closer and closer. Although "closer" in this sense meant "a few hundred miles away", I still became worried. This boy was getting better and better all the time. From the day he started hunting me down, he had gone from an amateur tracker to a professional: not missing anything, using his talents as a vampire to do what he wanted. I admired him for that: and James would have been proud. _If_ he was alive; and he wasn't, thanks to this stupid little teenage brat. I sped up, my rage and passion fuelling my sudden burst of energy. I was no longer a blur – I was a leaf moved from one spot to another, a flash of red in a grey-green world. I was the colour in a colourless place. And I loved being it.

I ran for another few minutes through the silent wood, making no more noise than a leaf falling from a tree. This, as everyone knows, is no sound at all: to a human, that is. But after a few more minutes of running, I got that sudden human urge to lie down and rest once more. I sighed. These human instincts were really slowing me down, and I needed to gain ground before the Edward boy caught up.

As I lay down beneath a tree in the woodland I listened hard again to the sounds around me. The grass beneath me tickled my skin, but I had to focus. I positioned myself so I could sit without being disturbed. I listened: I could hear birds, deer munching grass, and a badger snuffling around in its sett while the day grew old. I painted an imaginary sound-picture of my surroundings, adding to bits as I went along. There were now two people running, one slightly lighter than the first, with a more graceful, ballerina-like tread. I could think of who it was.

"_You have to go, now." Carlisle demanded, looking deep into my eyes. "Or else I won't be able to calm Edward down. Or Alice, for that matter. She loved Bella." He looked at me hard again. "We all did."_

_I stood up out of my crouch, licking my lips of that delicious blood while taking a defensive stance. "What if I don't? What will you do then, Carlisle? Huh?" I had him in the palm of my hand; all I needed to do was clench it into a fist... I leaned up close. "What will you do, Carlisle?" I breathed into his ear._

_Ok, I admit I was showing off a little to Laurent. He was stood there in awe, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two of us, analysing every tiny detail. I played along with this little game, and turned back to Carlisle._

"_Well?"_

_His face was an impenetrable mask as he said: "I'm sorry then, Victoria. We will just have to deal with you."_

_The Cullens came out of the undergrowth. I stumbled back, knowing I was outnumbered, and had nowhere to hide, or to go. I licked my lips again, as they were suddenly dry. A first for me. I hoped it would be my last._

_And Carlisle smiled and said:_

"_Run, Victoria. Run."_

**Yey! End of chapter 2!**

**Sorry that this chapter was so short - I've been very busy and I won't update for a while as I'm going away to Portugal. But don't worry – I'm coming back!**

**Please R&R to let me know how you feel about me doing more of this story, and how you think I can improve it. If you liked it, please review. If you didn't like it, please REVIEW!! It's so helpful: so please DO IT!**

**Many thanks again to all those who persuaded me to write fanfics in the first place – especially this one!**

**Xanthemj**


	3. Catch me if you can

Chapter Three

_I panicked, and stumbled backwards over the tufts of grass on the non-official baseball pitch. The Cullens had surrounded me, and each of them had a furious expression on their face. The big one, Emmett, cracked his knuckles and looked straight at his spouse, Rosalie, who crouched down towards the floor in a feline stance. _Nice kitty_. The Jasper boy looked at Bella's body and growled softly, and his mate Alice opened her mouth to show her beautiful pointed white teeth. Esme went over to her husband's side and whispered in his ear, so quietly that even I couldn't hear it, and then looked at me and smiled pityingly. I scowled. I didn't need her sympathy._

_Edward's face out of all of them showed the most passion, however: his eyes blazed and his extraordinary spiky bronze hair stood up on end like the fur on a cat's back. He bared his teeth and then roared an animal roar that sent shivers up my spine. I'm pretty sure it sent shivers up his family's spines too._

_He dropped his head from its upright position. "Leave now," he said menacingly, "and I will give you a head start." His eyes seemed absolutely focussed on mine: I guessed that he didn't want to look at his lover's dead body. "If you don't leave," he looked around him and gestured, "then we will have to deal with you. And him," he said, indicating towards Laurent._

_I laughed softly, delighted that he had so many weak points to choose from, to open up to see the pain on his face._

_I slowly and deliberately moved over to the body and looked at her face. Yeah, she was pretty, in a damsel in distress kinda way. Not something I looked for in a pretty face._

"_I'm not leaving here, Cullen. Not unless you want someone to get hurt." I smiled enticingly. "And I'm not leaving without James."_

_This time he laughed, a laugh that was in his mouth but that did not reach his eyes. "Well, there I'm afraid we can't help you." He said this with such conviction that I was shocked, although I didn't know what the hell he was talking about._

"_Wh...what?" I stuttered. I feared for the worst; and I was right._

"_What I mean to say, dear Victoria, is that your James," here he paused and smiled again, that awkward, crooked smile, "has been dealt with. As you will be if you do not leave _now_." _

I sighed. My two trackers were definitely getting closer. But I didn't get up. It was too much effort. I had lost heart completely: James was dead. The Volturi refused to call Edward off the hunt; they wanted nothing to do with us. Jane and Aro were having the time of their lives watching me curse and squirm as I ran from Edward. Jane always enjoyed pain: she was loving this pain more than anything she had ever caused. At least, that was what she said when I had gone crawling to her last time.

_I cried out in agony. My perfect James, gone forever! This couldn't happen, it wasn't possible... My brain, my consciousness refused to believe what I was hearing. It shut down, refusing to work, so that everything around me turned to a blur. Or maybe that was just my tears, falling from my eyes like dew falling from leaves. _

_That was when the stink of smoke came to my nostrils, and I knew it was James that I smelled. I was angry now, furious down to the very core of my being. I screamed, a scream that was so loud that I knew people in several nearby states let alone towns would hear me. The scream was of passion, of longing, of anger, of hate, of loathing. The scream was me._

_I stopped screaming long enough to think about my situation. I was surrounded, and so was Laurent. This meant there was only one thing I could use as a distraction._

_I leapt for Laurent, who was still standing there dumbfounded, his mouth open, staring at the Cullens, and then at me as I flew through the air towards him. I don't think he even realised before I tore his head off that I was going to have to kill him in order for me to get out. I threw the stiff but still wriggling body at Edward to create a distraction, and he dodged out of the way with a disgusted expression on his face. _

_I took this opportunity to go flying through the air over the Cullens' heads as they looked on Laurent's body with astonishment. I started running before I hit the ground, and when I did land my feet carried me far, far away. But not before I said:_

"_Goodbye, Laurent. Oh, and Edward?_

_Catch me if you can."_

**And there's another chapter finished!**

**Sorry that most of this chapter was in italics and also so short, I just needed to clarify what had happened with the Cullens... forgive me, please! ******

**Please R&R... as my friends say, the little button calls! It's v. helpful, all of you should know that by now... :P**

**Again, I won't update very soon as I have to go on holiday... but enjoy yours all the same!**

**Xanthemj**


	4. Welcome to our world

Chapter Four

_Edward POV_

As I ran through the trees that reminded me so much of Forks, I thought about the time I had spent with Bella while she was alive. Her hair, flashing brown (with small glints of red) as it swirled through the air; her beautiful brown eyes, giving away every emotion and still teasing me and tempting me at every glance. Her beautiful face, with its ivory skin and red, red lips. And her perfect body, so fragile. I smiled to myself as I ran. It was partly her fragility, and also her determination to get herself broken in some way, that attracted me to her. But it was also her stubbornness to stay with me, even when I told her, time and again, that I was dangerous, not to be trusted.

I cursed myself for not being with her every moment of every minute of every day. I hadn't had as much time as I could have had with her. Not by a long shot.

And it was all because of Victoria. That scheming witch of a vampire, she had leapt onto my life-partner and sucked all of her sweet-smelling blood, the blood that rightfully belonged to me, out of her body. I had stood there, my mind refusing to work, and watched it happen. I was powerless to stop it.

And so I killed James. It only seemed fair: she killed my "mate", I killed hers.

Now I was after her.

I sniffed the air, tasting it as a snake would: its fork-shaped tongue flickering out of its mouth and sensing every movement and being around it. I could smell her, taste her on the air: she was sitting under a tree, resting her, quote, "_weary legs._"

Although she killed my Bella, she still had human instincts. And I had to listen to her use them. I hated her for that.

Alice returned from her scouting trip, running through the trees to end up alongside me, using her typically graceful stride.

"There's a small herd of deer up ahead, we can probably stop there. Victoria will start going south after her rest: she wants to try to lead you further off the trail... Oh yeah, and Carlisle, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Esme say hi."

This was all that Alice said these days. After Bella died, she had become withdrawn and was no longer her bouncy self. She hardly said more than one small sentence at a time. A small sentence for Alice, that is.

"Thanks, Alice." I smiled in gratitude, and we continued to run along in silence.

"_Hey, you brought a snack!"_

I shuddered at the memory of James' small but forever wounding remark. It was what kept me pacing around my room at night. Not that I could do anything else, of course. I can't sleep. I'm a vampire, in case anyone hadn't noticed.

"_You can't sleep?" She asked, her eyes twinkling with humour and slight suspicion._

"_Yes."_

"_So..." she gestured towards the king-sized bed. "What's this for?"_

_I smiled. "Lying on. Or in. Depends."_

"_Anything else I should know?"_

_I looked at her, searching her face for any teasing twinkle. There was none._

How I needed to see that reassuring smile, that crinkle by the eye to say _everything's all right, Edward._ But she wasn't here, not now. She was gone, forever: and I was out to avenge her death. Because Victoria killed Bella, and I wasn't- I'm not going to stand by and let Bella's murderer get away with what she did.

_After she ran, I cast Laurent's broken body aside._

"_You should probably burn him too, Jasper," I said._

_He nodded, and picked up the body. He and Emmett disappeared into the undergrowth with it._

_I walked towards the body while diamond-drop tears rolled out of my eyes, ran down and off my cheeks, and ended up on the wet grass._

_It was still raining. The storm that Alice had predicted all that time ago still raged on overhead, its thunder and covering up the sky with both its light and sound. I hated that sound, that light. I hated baseball. Everything needed to stop for my beloved Bella. Now that she was dead, all life had to stop. Everything had to die. She was the life around me, the life of the world itself. Nothing in the world could live without her. I certainly couldn't._

_Through my blurry vision I could only just make out the crumpled body of my love, broken on the floor. Her hair was spread about her broken and twisted head like an angel's halo, but the rest of her body betrayed the truth. What was left of Bella's blood had run down her neck and was now drying into only a brown smudge. I crouched down next to her body and wiped this blood away, revealing that awful red crescent mark that Victoria had left there for all eternity._

_I crouched protectively over Bella's body, sobbing as I picked up the broken body and clutched it to mine. The heat which had once radiated from her body was gone, as was her heartbeat. That heartbeat, which had quickened so alluringly when I leaned towards her, and that I had learnt to keep myself away from. Gone. _

That image of her body was embedded on my mind. No matter how hard I tried, I could never shake it from my mind. It didn't matter. I had stopped even trying to forget it.

I want never to forget Bella. Never.

_Victoria POV_

Bella died because of us. James died because of us. People die because of us. We are the killers.

We are the best hunters in the world, ever. We are built to kill, we survive to kill. They, however, do not survive.

We are the fittest, we are the best. At everything: be it killing, seducing, engaging, drinking, or surviving.

It is the survival of the fittest. We are the fittest, and we survive, always.

Welcome to our world.

**Dum dum duuuuum! Yes, I am back from my holiday in Portugal! Anyway, here is another chapter, hope you like it.**

**Please R&R!! The little green review button calls!**

**Xanthemj**


	5. Why me?

Chapter Five

_Victoria POV_

_When I was a human, I had a family._

_I had a mother, and a brother, and a lover._

_They were taken away from me._

_Or was I taken away from them?_

I sighed. My rest had been quite long enough: I should get going.

I was up in a matter of milliseconds, and was once again running silently through the trees.

I had been running for months now. Ever since that stormy night in Forks, America, I had been to Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Switzerland, Germany, and even to Russia. I smirked to myself, remembering all the hideouts I had found, the weather I had endured, and the people I had hunted. I had been so hungry all that time, ever since I had drunk Bella's blood. Her blood had called out to me when she had been alive: but now, even in death, her blood still drew me, like a hook in a fish's mouth. It was like a craving – an utter desire to have what I couldn't have. There was no more blood in that body, because I had drunk it all.

It was like her blood was my particular brand of heroin.

I had only ever come close to finding that kind of blood, once, in Russia. But now I was in England, my home country, there was no Bella, and I wanted to return to the city I had been born in. London.

"_A little girl!" cried the midwife._

_The mother lay on the bed, exhausted, blood all around her. "Give me the child." she whispered._

"_She's got a good shock of pretty red hair, love. Not like yours, a'course." The midwife stared at the little baby's head, then handed her over. "Like the father's, is it?"_

_At the mention of a father, the woman on the bed shuddered. "No, actually. He had blonde hair." _

"_Ah, well, that's nice." The midwife produced a pail of cold water, and started to wash her hands of the blood and gore covering them. "What'll you name her, then?"_

_The mother thought for a moment, stroking the baby's head tenderly._

"_Victoria." she answered._

I could remember very little about my human life. What I could remember, however, sometimes left me cold, and other times left me longing for a human life. Or James' life back.

I carried on running through the trees that were now full of birdsong and animal noise. My ears picked up every sound, my nose every smell. My ears picked up the sound of some pheasants four or five miles off fighting, a female pheasant the prize; I smelled deer and fox and badger and rabbit... and a bonfire not ten or so miles away. I smiled. I could make a small detour, and at the same time try to lead Edward off my trail. I headed south.

As I came nearer, I heard the crackling of twigs under the fire's threatening heat. I sped up, longing to have a little heat at last. I had become so tired of being cold _all the time._

I crept up to the small evergreen hedge, and peered through. A man was throwing branches onto the fire from a tree he had just chopped down. I licked my lips. He looked to be alone, and his death could easily be made to look like an accident.

I cursed as two small children came out of the small house into the garden.

"Can we help, pleeeeease Daddy!?" the little boy screamed. His sister nodded her head furiously.

The man chuckled and came away from the fire. He crouched down to the children's level – both of them were only around the ages of 7 and 8.

"You know I promised your mum that I wouldn't let you near the fire." he said.

"Awwww!" the children chorused. "Daaaad, pleeeeease!"

"No." he said firmly. "Now go back inside, you'll get smoke in your eyes."

And the children, after much more whining and complaining, ran back inside, yelling and screaming.

"_Mummy?"_

"_Yes, darling?"_

"_Why is Victoria playing with the fire in the kitchen?"_

_The woman rose from her seat, placed her sewing down and swept angrily past the little boy who had told the tale on his big sister. _

_Victoria was crouched by the fire, her long red hair clumsily plaited down her back. She was staring into the heart of the fire, a small stick clutched in her left hand, the end of which was placed deliberately in the glowing embers surrounding the burning logs in the middle of the hearth. _

_The woman strode over to where the girl was crouched, and knocked her aside. She threw the stick the girl had been holding back into the fire, and pulled her stupid daughter roughly up from the floor by her collar. _

"_HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO PLAY WITH THE FIRE?!" screamed the woman into her daughter's face. "YOU SHOULD KNOW NOT TO FROM LAST TIME!" The girl began to cry in earnest, begging her mother to stop. _

"_I HAVE HAD TO REBUILD OUR LIFE FROM THE LAST TIME YOU BURNT DOWN OUR HOUSE! ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE, YOU DEVILISH CHILD?!" The woman slapped the girl in the face and left her to storm out of the room, still shouting madly. The girl sat on the cold floor, only about eight years of age, trying to stem the flow of her tears. As she wiped the last of them from her cheeks, she looked up to the doorway. Her brother was standing there, sniggering._

"_You got caught again, Victoria!" He laughed, and skipped down the hall, leaving his bigger sister to clean up the mess._

I left the man and his children to their lives and ran up the hill nearby. Night was closing in, and I needed to find a shelter. I forced my way through brambles and nettles, over fences and railings, until I found a pillbox from the Second World War hidden in ivy. I ripped back the plant that had entwined itself both in and on the building until I was in. I looked around my room for tonight. The ivy had covered the walls and the floor in here, making a sort of bed. A small window in the wall that soldiers had once looked through to search for German parachutes against the black sky looked over a field full of meadow-grass and flowers, with a stream at the side for a quick wash before I left the next morning.

A storm was coming, I could see that now. Flashes of lightning came down to earth from the heavens miles away, while deep shakes of thunder rumbled over the ground. The rain came in sheets, drenching everything it touched, be it good or evil, pretty or ugly, boy or girl.

The rain was yet to reach me, curled up in my small pillbox in the middle of the Surrey countryside.

One question was still to be answered.

Why me?

**Hello once more from my laptop!**

**Hope you liked this chapter: I certainly enjoyed writing it!**

**Please read and ... REVIEW! It is crucial to my very EXISTENCE that you review, otherwise I will just fade away into nothingness and you will get no more chapters! **

"**Noooo!" I hear you cry!**

**So, please review and I will be able to give you more chapters!**

**Thanks again for reading this story – check out some of my friends' stories as well! They are on my 'Favourite authors' list.**

**Xanthemj**


	6. Home

Chapter Six

It was the morning after the storm. It had raged and fought with and against the elements; and it had won. The sky was grey and full of clouds, but the wind that now howled through the trees failed to move them across the sky. Birds swooped on the same wind: massive crows struggled to move against the air currents while smaller birds were completely blown over. Leaves were ripped off the trees, as were small flower buds and even tinier animals: spiders, midges, mosquitoes. All of the small creatures, overthrown by one storm.

"_All things bright and beautiful,  
All creatures great and small,  
All things wide and wonderful,  
The Lord God made them all."_

_As the last choruses of that hymn slowly died down around the walls of the church, the priest blessed the congregation and he and his small group of choirboys made his way slowly down the aisle of the church, the choirboys singing in Latin all the while. They really did look angelic in their small dress-like red and white robes. _

_A red-haired girl and her mother stood at the back of the crowded church, both on their tiptoes to look over the heads of others. And as the final hymn echoed around from the pipes of the organ, the congregation dispersed and they spilled out into the warm air of the evening. The sun was making its way towards the horizon, and the birds were settling down into the treetops for a night's rest._

"_I just love Evensong," sighed Victoria's mother as they made their way towards the side entrance of the local parish church: "and James looked positively cherubic in his attire."_

_Victoria just nodded politely to her mother: she had learnt that any word in the wrong place earned her a slap in the face. Her mother had seemed to become even more bad-tempered than she had been to start with. At least, ever since Victoria could remember. _

_And she couldn't get a red mark disfiguring her face tonight, as tomorrow she would be meeting with her most recent suitor: a certain Mr Hugh de Carteret. His family had owned nearly all the land on the island of Jersey for generations, and so her mother smiled down on their relationship. She loved him, and she thought that he loved her. She loved the way he was so tall and imposing, and clever and bilingual (he had spoken French from a very early age), funny and kind. _

_He hadn't necessarily said that he loved her yet; but she could see it in the way he looked down at her, the way his eyes scanned her face for any sign of sincerity when she teased him, the way he looked when he was showing her off at one of his many parties: he glowed with happiness when he was with her. It was a match made in heaven._

The skies that day had been clear and breezeless. Today was the opposite: the sky was grey, full of cloud, and the wind was close to tornado speeds.

It picked up my hair, fingering the dirty red strands in its icy tendrils, and flung it about my face. I whipped it back impatiently: I really needed to get a hair-tie or something. One of the brilliant things about civilisation: hair bands.

The wind was coming from behind me, which was good; Edward wouldn't be able to smell me as easily and I would be able to tell his position with one blow: just as long as I kept the wind to my back. From the wind I could tell that Edward and Alice had stopped. They had lost my scent. I smiled, and then the smile drifted from my face. If they had stopped, I had two choices. One, get away faster, with a head start. Or, the other option.... My head turned of its own accord towards the stream, trickling amiably down at the other end of the field. I hadn't washed myself, or my clothes for that matter, for so long....

I made my way down to the stream, eager to get myself clean again. Even if was going to be a cold bathe, I decided that I _would_ enjoy it. A warm shower would have been better, however, to loosen the knotted muscles in my neck, shoulders and back. They had been under so much tension lately; I didn't think I could even shrug them.

I hadn't had a bath for several weeks, and as I had been running through mud and fruit trees and various other substances which I didn't wish to remember, I had coated myself and my clothes, both at once. I was eager to get this filth off me.

As I walked in, still fully clothed, I really appreciated the wonder of clean, running water. It soothed my body, caressing it, soothing it, and numbing it. Its coolness enfolded me, and for a minute I was covered in bliss. I was numb from any pain, any thoughts, any plans. It was brilliant.

And then I opened my eyes, and saw the diamond water flecked with bits of plants and small fish skimming past. My hair, which before had been red-brown from the mud, was now once again bright red. My hands, which were also covered in mud and grime and moss, were once again sparkling white. And my clothes, oh, they were back to their normal, wonderful cleanliness and newness. Perfect. I would now be clean, fresh. I would no longer be the poo-covered vampire that Edward could sniff a hundred miles away: I would be the clean, new Victoria, who Edward wouldn't be able to recognise at a first sniff.

Yes!

"_You look lovely tonight, Victoria." said the man._

"_Thank you, Hugh." She had certainly dressed to make him look at her closely: she was wearing a red silk dress, with pink petticoats in different shades. Her dress had been parted to show her petticoats, of course, as was the fashion of the time: and her maids had been sure to apply her makeup correctly, and her hair dressed perfectly into ringlets._

_Hugh and Victoria had been courting for several years now. They had been through thick and thin together: they had had arguments, temporary break-ups, even, once, a physical fight. But there had also been kisses, nights together, whispered words, and days out together, just the two of them._

_Now, on May Day, Victoria had arranged herself, or otherwise _prepared_ herself for a proposal. As she had been saying for weeks now: "If not now, when?"_

_The festivities for May Day were as bright and colourful as ever – ribbons were strewn over hedges, paper confetti was all over the usually dirty pavements, and posters advertising the festivities plastered the walls of the houses surrounding the square. In the middle of that same square stood a large decorated pole, striped white and red like a barber's sign. Small children were dancing round it with the ribbons tightly clutched in her hands, weaving a delicate and intricate pattern to the rhythm of the jaunty music being played by musicians in the background. Different musicians were playing different music in another part of the square. This music was accompanying Morris dancers, bells jingling, in nearly the only part of the square that wasn't filled with people pushing each other for space._

_Hugh took Victoria out of the square to a nearby park, which was full of couples, both young and old, strolling together, hands embraced. Hugh dragged Victoria away from them._

"_We don't want to be disturbed." He smiled in slight embarrassment. _

_As they reached a small clearing in a group of rhododendron bushes (after running for several minutes), Victoria collapsed onto the floor in a flurry of laughter, skirts and various pieces of fabric. Hugh laughed also, his fine silken waistcoat heaving up and down, his cheeks spotted red with the effort of trying to stop laughing, his eyes sparkling with excitement._

"_Thank you, Hugh," Victoria said after they had both managed to regain control of themselves. "Thank you for... everything." Hugh flushed red at this point. _

"_Actually, Victoria... I've been meaning to tell you- ask you something."_

_Victoria's eyes lit up at this point. "Yes, Hugh? Go on, ask me!"_

"_Well..." He heaved with the effort of finding the right words. "There's this girl. She's beautiful, quick-witted, good with sewing and all of those womanly and wifely things, comes from a good and honest family, and our parents smile on our relationship together." He faltered._

"_Go on," Victoria prompted. _

"_It's just that... oh Victoria." He knelt down on one knee. He produced a small box covered in blue velvet, and opened it. Inside, nestled in a cocoon of white tissue paper, was a small gold ring. On that gold ring, a diamond lay, glistening like a star on a clear night; like a large dewdrop hanging off a leaf in the new morning._

"_Will you marry me, Victoria?" He gulped nervously._

"_Oh, Hugh!"_

I had dried myself quickly, not wanting to waste time. However, small droplets of water still clung to the ends of strands of my hair, like the water still on the ground from the night before.

I started running. I needed to feed, and soon: I hadn't had a proper drink since I was in the Yorkshire parts of England, and that had been just a tramp, sleeping on the streets, who no-one could miss. I was tempted to go back to that small family with the bonfire; but I chided myself. If I killed them, someone would miss them: and I didn't want the English police looking for me as well as Edward and Alice and the American police and, possibly, the Volturi. I had enough on my plate for the moment.

The English morning was as typical as ever. Water was running off the ground in streams through the fields and woods and roads; girls with huge rucksacks bulging with snacks and bits of odd clothing came out of their tents from their camping trip the night before groaning in earnest, as they found that their bags were soaked and so were they. Animals came out to graze: rabbits nibbled at already shortened grass, and birds pecked at nuts in birdfeeders and at berries on trees and bushes. The sky was grey, although the clouds were clearing to leave a blue sky for the day ahead. It was going to be a beautiful, hot day.

And I was going to miss it. I was going to London, to where I used to live; in grotty, grimy houses on streets filled with dirt and decay, by the even dirtier River Thames.

I had missed this place.

As they say in that American film:

"There's no place like home."

**Hello!**

**Once again, I would like to remind you that I have nothing to do with owning anything to do with Twilight or the character Victoria, also I have nothing to do with owning "The Wizard Of Oz", which is where my last line comes from. So **_**please **_**don't assume that I do!**

**I hope that you all enjoyed this latest chapter, please review if you liked it. If you didn't like it, please review telling me why, so I can make my stuff better! Yey! **

**The little button calls...**

**Xanthemj**


	7. Nowhere to run

Chapter Seven

_Edward POV_

Her scent was fainter than before, and much cleaner, but I could tell that she was up again, running in the exact direction Alice had predicted: towards London. As we ran, I wondered why she was running that way, of all places. There were so many people there: but it was light, it was airy; it was full of witnesses who could easily spot her in a crowd. But then again, you did get lots of weird people in big cities all around the world.

I frowned in frustration. It was so hard not being able to hear people's thoughts any more; even though it was a relief not having to block out every single thought from all the humans around me. It was like I had gone deaf, or blind, or at least lost one of my senses – my sixth sense, as humans liked to call it. But my other senses had not adjusted to make up for the loss of a sense, as humans usually do when they lose a sense. It was all the same to me: but without Bella, my world was grey, cold, miserable.

The day that Bella had died, it was like something inside of me bent, broke, and snapped. It was like someone inside of me screaming, scratching out my insides; making them bloody and raw, like I was just a slab of cold, hard meat that was being butchered: but from the inside out.

_After Bella's funeral, I wandered away from the grave: from that small coffin, adorned with tulips and daisies and all manner of flowers. Charlie and Renee stood huddled together, both staring down at the coffin that housed their dead daughter's body._

_Bella's mother had come up from Jackson to Bella's funeral in Forks. She had left her new husband behind - apparently he wasn't able to make it in time - and made it up by herself on a plane and a long taxi ride. Bella would have been worried sick about her: but as she had arrived to the funeral on that Sunday, she had looked pale but composed as she walked towards where her daughter's body lay._

_Tears once more ran from my eyes, overflowing their barriers. I didn't try to hold them in – I wanted Bella's spirit to see me, to know that I still loved her. To know that I would avenge her death. _

_Charlie left his former wife to join me at the gate of the churchyard. _

"_Edward, I have tried _so_ hard to find out who did this to her." He was crying now. He wiped them away angrily. "May I just remind you that you were supposed to be with her the night she died. And you left her in the woods, alone, and next thing we knew, she had disappeared. Five weeks she was gone. And then to turn up like that, all mangled-"he choked on his words. "Edward, I am holding you responsible until we find her killer."_

"_I understand, sir."_

_He softened. "I know you loved her, Edward," he said softly, "but until we find the real culprit, you are our number one suspect. I'm sorry."_

_I nodded. "Understood, Mr. Swan."_

_He stood there for another couple of seconds, then nodded his head and turned back to Renee._

_I had to get Victoria._

That was the day I found out that I couldn't read minds any more. I had tried to read the minds of Charlie, of Renee, of the priest. I couldn't do it, and I had been so angry with myself, with everyone around me. I had had to go back to Alaska, to calm myself down, to get a grip on myself. That's when I heard from the vampires around me that Victoria had gone to Africa, then to Europe. I decided I would go after her with all my might, with all my strength.

And here I was, running through the woods with Alice at my side. She had refused to stay with Carlisle:

"_No, Edward!" She screamed. "Bella was like a sister to me! I am _not _going to sit back and watch you avenge her death by yourself. I can look after myself; I can look after you. Let me come!" Her face was stubborn._

_I gave in._

Victoria was a scheming, good-for-nothing woman. She was the very devil herself.

But for all the things she did, all the things that she was; I admired her. She was gutsy, strong, and very clever. She was beautiful in that feline, red-haired way, and could easily escape from any situation. She was perfect.

I shook my head angrily, as if trying to clear my head of a dark fog that was slowly coming down inside of it. Bella was barely cold in her grave, and Victoria was the one who killed her. And yet I was thinking of Victoria like... like.... I shuddered as I ran. It didn't bear thinking about. Not one bit.

She should have reached the suburbs now – all those little expensive houses with their green, perfectly trimmed lawns. The typical families with the typical 2.4 children, with the typical pets: goldfish, dog, cat, rabbits, guinea pigs... chickens. The pool in the back garden, the spotless pavements (not sidewalks), the two BMWs in the gravel driveways. The father with the promotional job, the mother with an apron around her waist and her blonde hair tied up neatly.

No family should ever be like that. It was too perfect, too plastic. But that was how some people's lives were like: all tied up with a bow and left on the doorstep for some lucky person to find.

I was not one of those lucky people. I had been given the hard road – barefoot on the cracked tarmac, I walked through a desert of pain and anxiety. While I sometimes came across oases like Carlisle and my family, I drank happily. My journey had ended for a short while – I could rest, build up my strength again, and fill up cans of that delicious, healing water.

And then I came across Bella's oasis. While I drank, she got smaller and smaller, until she dried out completely. And it was my fault that she ceased to exist. I dried her out, and she evaporated into thin air.

And then Victoria, the sandstorm, came and swept everything I ever had with Bella away. She carried away the dust where Bella had been. And so, I filled up my Alice water bottle, and followed that storm.

And here I was now. Stuck behind Victoria, endlessly following her, trying to catch up, but never quite managing. And all the while, Bella is stuck in her grave, but always calling to me, always crying, always screaming, always trying to push off the white, cold, red-haired woman tying her down and drinking from her neck.

We struggled through bushes of hawthorn, gorse and bramble, Alice always leading the way. She had been so helpful these last few days: she had held me up when I felt down, and she had helped me to keep focussed when it had seemed so hard.

At the moment, she had a much better sense of smell than I did, although we never knew why. Alice had a small inkling that it was something to do with Bella's death. I agreed: I pointed everything out to have some connection with Bella's death. If the sky was grey, it was because Bella had died; if we hadn't found anything to eat, it was because Bella had died; if a human spotted us in the sunlight, it was because Bella had died.

We ran through woods covered in moss, nettles and brambles. We ran through fields high with waving yellow rape and meadows filled with flowers, grass and weeds. We ran past the suburbs that had been so far away half an hour ago, driveways filled with cars and gardens filled with perfect lawns and pools. We were catching up.

Victoria had nowhere to run.


	8. Finish it

Chapter Eight

Victoria POV

Edward was catching up, slowly but surely. I swore loudly into the gloom of the abandoned London street. I needed more time; time that I didn't have. I had to find what had been my house, and my home. The houses and streets had changed names, changed places and directions, changed their looks completely. Those English bast***s had changed everything about my home, and I hated them for it. (N.B. I have no political motives – whatever I say about the English government I do not mean – it is just the view of Victoria as I picture her!)

I stopped and looked around me for any familiar street-sign, building shape, or, perhaps, a face I vaguely recognised. The latter, of course, was impossible; unless I came across another vampire.

_It was two years after the wedding of Victoria and Hugh. They were happily married, and had found a beautiful little house down by the riverside. Although their street stank from the raw fish that was brought in every day from the sea; and from the murky waters of the River Thames that was filled with everything you could possibly imagine. Hugh often said he thought there was a river-monster hiding under the scum and dirt of the river._

_But in addition to the dirt and smell of the river, there were also the beautiful cloths and spices they brought in from far foreign countries. The beautiful silks, in all manner of colours, which came heaped up in bundles and rolls; and the spices: saffron from the Mediterranean, cayenne pepper from the French Guiana, sumac from Italy, cinnamon from Seylon (now Sri Lanka), cumin from Upper Egypt, wasabi from Japan, and turmeric from south-east Asia. All of these were highly prized, and highly priced. As Victoria often walked along the waterfront, she watched the burly sailors pass buckets, crates, and heaps of this expensive stuff to the warehouses standing tall alongside the river._

_It was when Victoria was walking along the waterfront when she heard the strange gurgling noise from a nearby alleyway. She stopped, skirts rustling annoyingly around her. She strained her ears to hear more. There, there it was again! A strange gurgling noise, like fast water coming out of the gutter; and then a moan._

_Normally Victoria wouldn't stop in the street; Hugh always told her never to go into dark alleyways or empty streets by herself; she may get caught or killed. But here was someone in trouble: and she couldn't just walk past without helping._

_Looking around her, she hurried quickly into the alley, avoiding the muck and rats on the floor. It was eerily quiet in the alleyway, and her breathing was loud in her ears as she rounded the corner where she knew the wounded person must be._

_Her eyes met the sight of a too-white body, with two red spots on the neck. She gasped as she recognised the person lying on the floor: it was the shopkeeper from across the road: she often bought flowers from him. She choked, trying not to vomit. The nausea won and she turned round, retching._

_When she had finished emptying her stomach, she looked around her for evidence of the murderer._

_A man was crouched behind the discarded wood in the street; Victoria hadn't seen him before because he had been hidden in the shadows, but now he moved out into the light._

_Victoria gasped. She had never seen such a beautiful being: blonde and longhaired, with pale skin that... glistened in the sunlight. And his eyes: red as the blood which dripped from his mouth._

_Victoria was caught like a rabbit in the headlights of a passing coach. She was stunned into silence by his beauty: and as he approached, Victoria could not move. Her heart beat rapidly as he came forward, and her breaths came quickly, looking like ghosts in the cold November air._

"_Are you scared?" He asked, cocking his head and looking searchingly at her._

"_Yes." She answered also automatically: which was strange, as she had never met this man or another of his kind before. _

"_Stay." He said, smiling. He moved towards her._

I looked into the alleys around me, trying to orient myself. Was it there that I had seen the bloodless body? Or there, where I had emptied the contents of my stomach into a corner?

People walked past me as if I was invisible, pushing past with heads down and suitcases kept under the protection of umbrellas. They smelled so good: but no. I had to restrain myself, had to achieve my original goal. Edward was catching up; I had to find my home fast. And I had to find the vampire who had marked me.

_He leaped on top of me, pinning me to the ground with an immense strength that I hadn't thought he possessed. I struggled in vain: my skirts pinned me back more than the man's bare arms. I screamed, but he placed his dirty, muddy hands over my mouth. I bit it; but it didn't make any difference to his grip. I struggled to breathe; but after a few seconds it was clear that strangulation was not going to kill me: but the man himself, with the tools which nature had given him. _

_His teeth, sharp and bloody, came towards my neck. My heartbeat increased, and he sighed with the pleasure of hearing it's *thump thump*, pumping the warm red blood around my body. And as the teeth pierced my skin, and the wild sucking of my life blood began, I gladly sank into unconsciousness._

When I had finally woken up, I had changed. I had, thankfully, missed the excruciating pain of the change; yet because of this, I felt I had missed a vital part of my life: or death, as it was then.

I had woken as the sun rose over the rooftops of London. I had crawled, not sure of where I was or why I felt so different, until I had reached my house; the place where I had lived with Hugh.

He had not taken it well.

"_Dear Lord, Victoria!" He cried as I walked in through the door, my clothes tattered and covered in a brown stain that could have been mud, faeces, or... blood._

"_What happened? You've been gone for almost five days..." He looked at me strangely. "You've changed as well, Victoria. Even though you're clothed in that dirty thing... you're even more beautiful than you were before."_

_My eyes had quickly adjusted to the light; and as my sharp eyesight picked out every single tiny detail in the room and on Hugh's face, I felt disgust. Why had I married this pig of a man? His face was pock-marked, he was small and his hair could have been the fur on a mongrel dog, left alone in the streets. He was shaking, and I could hear his heartbeat pushing the adrenaline-filled blood around his body. It was the fight or flight drug: he could sense there was something wrong, that I had changed. However, he didn't know _what_ had changed. I smiled. This was fun, having this power over human beings: for I knew that I was no human being now. I was a fantastic work of art, a ne_w _life. He was absolutely hypnotised by my beauty. _

_I could hear his blood rushing around his body in his veins._

_I lunged._

I had killed my husband. But I had not felt regret or pity or disgust with myself. It had been the natural thing to do, and I had done it.

After I had killed Hugh, I got out of London as quickly as I could: which, with my new running ability, wasn't that hard.

I couldn't remember anything about my past life apart from my name and various small snatches of unimportant information. It had been time for me to make a new start.

And here I was again, stuck here in this filthy, noisy city, covered in the English rain. _What am I doing here?_ I asked myself. I didn't have the answer.

I walked quickly into a dark doorway, and watched the world go by. People running past, eager to get home after a day's work; taxis hooting as other drivers pulled in front; friends meeting in cafes.

I had nowhere to go.

Edward POV

She had nowhere to go.

Alice and I closed in, ready for the kill.

This time, I would finish it. For good.

For Bella.

**A/N: I do not own any aspect of Twilight: its characters, plot, or even the very idea of it!**

**Hello once more from my laptop, my sitting room, my house, Surrey, England, Britain, Europe, the Earth, Milky Way, the Galaxy, the Universe, the world as we know it.**

**:P**

**I have written this chapter over a number of days 'cause I've had GCSEs and internal school exams.... in fact, I've got another week of them coming up and I'm meant to be revising right now.... But sorry if any part of it doesn't make sense, just review telling me the problem and I'll try to sort it!**

**Please read and review, and maybe the chapters will come a little quicker!**

**Xanthemj**

**(btw, any NCIS fans - try out ProspektsMarch161. She does really good stuff - with TIVA!!! x)**


	9. How can I face him?

Chapter Nine

I knew that Edward knew where I was, and that he was just biding his time until we were alone. How typical of him not to make a scene, after all I had done to him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On that day that I had killed Hugh, I had walked down the street quickly, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself. It had been a cold winter's day, and I had drawn up the shawl from around my neck to my face; to avoid my face being seen as much as to block out the cold.

"_If the Lord had wished it to be any colder, it wouldn't be possible," I muttered as I walked out of my own front door onto the street. I walked quickly, my skirts rustling as I stepped over the dirt in the gutter: mud, water, dog faeces… and worse. _

_I had changed from my bloodstained and tattered dress in my house into a more practical, less conspicuous blue woollen dress. It was itchy, but if I was to get away - and live - the itching was worth it. It was low-cut, with a round neck. The sleeves were long and old-fashioned, and the waist was fitted to show off my curves. It _was_ still conspicuous, but less so than all my other dresses. _

"_Psst!" I heard a noise from an adjoining alley. I kept walking, my head down. I would have been furious with myself for turning round._

"_PSST!" A hand shot out into the street and grabbed me. I fought back; but this person was strong, maybe even stronger than me._

_I bared my teeth at the person who had pulled my arm. She was quite tall, with amazing brown-and-blonde corkscrew curls and blue eyes. She was wearing glasses; but her pale skin gave her away. The glasses were a disguise, a front… she was a vampire, same as me._

_She was accompanied by two other vampires: a girl with long chestnut brown hair that shone red in parts. She looked so pure that I would have mistaken her for an angel, and although she held herself with a perfectly straight back and with an air of a typical English girl, I knew that she could be deadly if crossed. She had the ninja-girl look, with strong arms and a clever mind. I knew that if she became my enemy, I would have to watch my step._

_There was another tall girl with short black hair and a wicked smile. She was thin, but not too thin; and she had an aura of excitability and eagerness around her, though it was easy to imagine her as sombre and solemn. Her eyes were very blue and it had a startling contrast with her jet black hair and pale skin. She looked as if she could be very passionate about her ideals and beliefs. I knew I could trust her, although I also knew my prejudice didn't stand for much these days. She nodded her head at me, then looked towards the curly-haired girl, who was obviously the leader._

_I would have mistaken the two girls for Rosalie and Alice if they hadn't been with this other girl, who then spoke._

"_Hi, I'm Charlotte, but you can call me by the more fashionable name of Lottie." She smiled. "And these lovely girls are Verity and Jennifer."_

_The brown-haired girl frowned. "Actually, it's Jeni."_

"_Um, hi Verity, Jeni and Lottie." I was totally confused. "…Why are you here?"_

"_When we heard you being… changed… we followed you to your house." Said Lottie quickly._

"_Why?" I asked._

"_Because the vampire who bit you… well, he bit us too. We're the only survivors of his attacks."_

"_But why do you need-"_

"_Because we're trying to form a group that can successfully destroy him before he can strike again."_

"_How did you know-"_

"_Verity can hear someone being changed." Murmured Lottie in a quiet tone. "She doesn't like talking about it."_

"_I can feel it too…. It's so hard." She breathed heavily, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "But I have to bear it. It happens every hour or so; I can hear anyone around the world being changed. I'm used to it now."_

_I was aghast. "I'm so sorry! I wish I could help…"_

_Verity grimaced. "I know. Everyone does. But I've got used to it."_

_The girls introduced themselves as having been changed for a number of years: Verity two years ago, Jeni changed three years ago, and Lottie was changed five years ago._

"_He'd never changed anyone before me. I think he's practicing, for future…" Lottie struggled to find the right word, "… reference."_

_I cringed. "So... you want me to join your... group, and help to track down the person who changed us into what we are now?"_

_Lottie smiled. "Yes. So, are you in?"_

_I smiled back. "Yes, I'm in."_

And we had gone around the city of London together, not worrying about our safety or our recognisability. We could look after ourselves in those days, we stuck together; and we moved from each part of London quickly, not staying in each part for more than a few days. I had had to be strong at first: my thirst for human blood stayed for weeks. Verity and Jeni, the inseparable duo, fetched for me what they could: drunk rich young men, drunk old men, drunk women, drunk tramps on the street... they couldn't find anyone else because all the Londoners were so wary, so careful when they were sober.

In fact, I had been so drunk myself as I gorged on the alcohol-filled blood that I lay on my bed each day we were in the town, woozy from my drinking. Excuse the pun.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I walked down the street, still looking for my old house. I needed to find the man who changed me, and I needed to do it quickly. If the vampire who had been hitting the streets of London for 'snacks' ever since my time could help me to defeat Edward, then I needed to find him. Maybe he still remembered me, after all this time. Hopefully he did: if not, I would easily be able to overpower him.

If I could find my house, I could find his street, I could find him.

I needed to find him.

My life – in my death - depended on it.

But how could I face the one who made me this killer?

How could I face him?

**Hello everyone!**

**I've been quite busy recently, my dad got married again and exams have been going on... but I'm here now!**

**I still won't be putting chapters up very fast, but I will try to get them up asap.**

**Please read and review this chapter; as you probably know it's invaluable to get comments (criticising and praising ******** )from readers. I'm sorry about all the italics in this chapter; I got a bit carried away I'm afraid!**

**I will try to get the next one up asap!**

**Xanthemj**

**N.B. I do not own any part of Twilight or its spin-offs. Apart from this one.**

**I would also like to point out that (sadly) Victoria is not one of my characters. She is one of the wonderful Mrs. Meyers' characters. NOT MINE! I have only made up the parts of Hugh, Lottie, Verity, Jeni, or any of the other characters mentioned in this fanfiction. Any poor relevance to any person is entirely accidental (apart from the people I HAVE based my characters on. You know who you are.)**

**I am very sorry if you had to read all this boring stuff. I will do this in hope of remedying the situation.**



**Happy?**

**x**


	10. My brother

Chapter Ten

It was morning, and the sun was breaking over the rooftops of London, shading the grey bricks orange and red and yellow. Birds twittered in the urban trees planted to make the city feel more 'green', and annoying yet cute grey squirrels ran through parks and up trees. Cars growled through the streets at six in the morning; lorry drivers eager to get away from the grimy hotel where they had stayed the night and onto the road, businessmen in their smart suits and BMWs off to Canary Wharf to bank and to argue and to make angry phone calls, yawning children and parents on the school run that were ready to make a 'new day'.

I walked through this chaos with an air of determination. If I didn't find the person who had changed me today, I would, for sure, be killed. For a second time.

I strode through the streets purposefully towards the place where I had stopped my search yesterday and tried not to inhale the stink of petrol fumes emitted from the dirty, noisy, stinking machines that dawdled on the road right beside me. How I hated those gas-guzzling cars. They were the one thing that I hated in this new age of technology, with all its phones and email and satellites and computers and iPods. They stole the earth's resources, they polluted the air, and they killed millions of people each year. If those humans had stayed with horses the earth would have been much better off.

I reached the place where I had stopped yesterday and looked around. My task seemed even more daunting today than it had the day before; the buildings loomed up around me as I considered my surroundings. Where to go next? Left, right, or straight on?

It was then that I smelt something on the wind, amongst the heavy smell of coffee, paninis and microwaved croissants. It was the smell of Edward and Alice, coming from behind me, and blocking off two of my exits: they were coming in from the left and the right. I sighed, and ran straight ahead, praying to the very deepest part of my soul, if I had one.

I growled, warning Edward and Alice to stay _away_. But, of course, they took no notice. And they kept advancing.

I cursed to myself quietly and ran as fast as I could through the people milling around in the streets. They had me cornered, there was no doubt of that: but there was still hope.

Here I was, running through the forest of buildings and monuments as I had so recently run through the leafy green trees of the Surrey hills. Just the same as I had run through the mossy trees of Forks.

Faces and buildings passes me in a blur. It was still raining, and as I ran the raindrops stung my face like little needles. I ignored the pain but still grimaced as I sped up, willing my legs to go faster beneath me. Edward and Alice were fast catching up; but I knew that Edward was deliberately going slowly, to make me panicked. It was working.

A familiar red door flashed past.

I skidded to a halt, my heart pounding.

It was my door. The one that I had chosen with Hugh. The one that I had walked through on my wedding day.

The one I had walked out of after killing my husband.

I ran towards it, praying that it wasn't locked, my hands grasping frantically at the doorknob. It turned easily once my hands found a grip on it, and closing the door behind me I found I was in a cool, dark kitchen. I gasped, trying to regain the breath I didn't technically need, as I looked around. The kitchen was where the old kitchen had been, but this one was large and spacious, combined with the sitting room to make a large, modern-looking open space. It looked beautiful.

Taking care to be quiet now, I tiptoed upstairs to check out the bedrooms and bathroom. They were much the same as the kitchen/sitting room, all white, clean lines with wood and glass at every turn. I whistled softly. This person had taste; and money. Lots of it. It must have cost a fortune to save the house from being knocked down to make way for the new buildings surrounding it, and even more to convert the house into a modern dream.

"You're back." I heard someone quietly say from behind me. I spun round, angry that I hadn't heard the intruder.

It was him. The one I had been looking for. He had cleaned up a bit since I had last seen him: his smart navy blue pinstriped suit was uncreased and perfect in every way, and his hair, which had once been long and greasy was now short and clean. I could smell his shampoo from where I was standing over three metres away: citrus and tea. I hated it.

"So what?" I said airily. "Can't a girl come back to her own house?"

"Technically, no, as it is actually _my_ house. Once you had killed your husband, the house had no owner, and the house was left empty. All I had to do was smarten up a little, and... persuade the authorities that I could have it. But, of course, I had to put it in my will: because no-one can live for over 100 years or so, can they? So I left it to my son. And his son. And his son. All the way to here."

"You pretended to be your son?" I was amazed at his clever thinking.

"Yes, of course. I was convinced that you would come back sooner or later, and I was prepared to wait for you here. But I have to be honest with you: I didn't expect you to take quite this long."

"I've been in America... with business."

"Ah yes, dear James." He studied his nails in an act of boredom. "I always told him to beware of feisty girls like you, but would he listen? No."

"You knew him?" I gasped.

"You haven't noticed yet?" He asked with a slight hint of humour in his voice.

"No... What?"

"James was my brother."

**Hello again, dear readers!**

**I hope you all liked this chapter: another SHOULD be coming out soon but please don't be too harsh on me if it isn't within a week! :P**

**Please read and review – and just another note, thanks to all those who are still reading and reviewing this story!**

**See you soon,  
Xanthemj**


	11. The end

Chapter Eleven

"Your _brother_?" I gasped, astounded.

"What, can't you tell?" He sounded amused.

But now I _could _see the resemblance. They both had that white-blonde hair, the narrowed eyes, the long, sharp lines of the jaw. They both had the same fierce expressions; and they both had the same passion.

"What's your name?" I whispered.

"Jacob."

Jacob and James. I laughed quietly to myself. I had always liked the name Jacob: I had fancied it as the name for my unborn child. How cliché that my saviour would have that same name.

There was a knock on the front door, and Jacob frowned. "Strange," he said, confused, "I'm not expecting anyone."

I knew who it was. "It's Edward." I said.

He turned, grinning. "Another boyfriend? So soon?" He snorted. "I always knew you were a-"

"No!" I almost yelped. "Edward... he's here to kill me."

"Why?" He asked the question with a sly smile on his face.

I was getting flustered: Edward would surely break the door down in his attempt to get to me. "I'll tell you later; now please help me!"

"Alright." He talked coyly. "But if I have a payment from you later."

"Yes, yes! Fine!" I almost yelled the words in my hurry to be rid of Edward and Alice, once and for all. And if Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper happened to come after them, so be it.

He strode towards the door of the bedroom, and I hurriedly followed him, thinking that he would fight for me, kill Edward, keep me safe. I looked forward to seeing them dead.

He strode to the kitchen, called "Just coming!" and ushered me towards the door. I shook my head vigorously: _I_ didn't want to kill them, I wanted _him_ to. But he carried on pushing me to the door, smiling, his hand on the small of my back.

He put his hand to the door knob. Twisted, and pulled it towards him.

Edward and Alice stood there, smiling wickedly. Then they looked confused as they saw Jacob and I standing in the doorway, especially Alice. But Edward pulled himself together quickly, speaking softly.

"Hello. We're from American Couples dot com. We're just doing a survey here in England to see if we should move to marketing here. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?"

I stared. Had Edward not seen or smelled me, or 'heard' my thoughts? I was right in front of him, standing in the open doorway, right next to Jacob. I turned to the vampire standing next to me, who was smiling placidly.

"Sure," he said, "but make it quick, the wife and I need to go out for a meal in the next..." He checked his watch. "...twenty minutes. It's the wife's birthday and..."

"Yes, yes, ok," Edward said hurriedly. "This'll only take a few seconds."

"Great." Jacob leaned back against the door and gave me a quick, indirect wink.

I was so confused. I looked down at myself. I wasn't invisible; not that I could see, anyway. I was still looking like myself; I hadn't been changed in any way, shape or form. So how could Edward be standing right in front of me?

Edward was still asking questions. "Do you have a spouse?"

"Of course!" And before Edward could get onto the next question, Jacob yelled into the house, "Miranda! Miranda! Come down here, sweetheart!"

A sweet voice answered, "Coming!" And suddenly a beautiful girl entered into my line of vision. She was of around less than medium height, but her waist-long toffee-brown hair shimmered around her like an aura as she moved to be beside Jacob. I noticed that her eyes were like the sea after a storm: slate grey with hints of blue. Had she got contacts to hide her red irises? If she had, they worked beautifully. I made a mental note to ask her about it.

"Hi honey," she purred. "Are you ready to go yet?"

"Not quite, my love. Go and make sure you've got everything you need and we'll go as soon as possible, I promise."

She nodded sedately and glided away, but at the last minute put out her hand to propel me away from the door. I complied; after the initial burst of happiness that Edward couldn't see me in the doorway I had begun to get nervous again.

We entered the sitting room, and Miranda gestured for me to sit down. I sat.

"How-"

"Jacob has a certain gift of being able to hide things: be it people, personalities, thoughts, smells... and I can make illusions that seem real; or unreal. Both gifts can come in quite handy sometimes."

I sat on the white leather sofa, taking in this new information slowly like a sponge soaks up water. My brain whirred into action, already thinking of the ways in which I could successfully exploit these new-found powers.

Miranda was looking anxiously towards the door.

"How long do you think he will stand there asking questions? We do actually need to go out for dinner."

"Not long. Edward was just using the questions as a cover-up. He wasn't expecting to see a human Jacob: just a vampire of any kind. Any vampire that was me." I stood up and took her hand. "Thank you so much for hiding me. It means so much."

She looked at me with cold distaste. "It wasn't my idea, it was Jacob's. He's besotted with you." She grabbed her hand away and strode out of the room, head held high.

I slumped down back onto the sofa. Miranda obviously didn't like me; she had made that clear enough. But it was what she had said: "He's besotted with you." Why? What was so special about me?

Edward came into the room and saw my pensive expression.

"Don't look so down, Victoria. I just saved you from certain death, remember?"

"Miranda doesn't want me here." It wasn't a question; it was a statement of fact.

"No. But, forgive me for being old fashioned: this is my house, not my wife's. My house, my rules. I insist that you stay, at least for a little while."

"_I insisht that you shtay, my dear." The young man who stank of sweat and money and beer smiled drunkenly at me. "I'll pay you for your troublesh." He dug his hand into his pocket and brought out a fistful of coins. "Jusht for a little while." _

_His slurring words made me feel physically sick. I was clothed in a typical costume of my line of work: low neckline, high hem line, frills, ruffles, and a mass of curled blonde hair was piled on top of my head. My face was covered in makeup, which I thought was a little over the top, as I was already at my most beautiful. The blonde wig was making my head itch like crazy, but only in a few minutes time I would be able to shake my own hair out and scratch my scalp with my long painted nails. _

"_Come on then, darlin'." He said, smiling a lopsided smile, breathing alcohol fumes over my face. "Come on."_

_-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_He lay on the bed naked, drops of blood surrounding his general throat area. The sheets were drenched in congealing blood, and as I rebuttoned my dress I noticed that there was some on the floor as well. I didn't care. My thirst had been quenched (at least for now) and I had taken his wallet and his gold watch and chain: these were needed by us to pay for people to forget, to destroy, to disappear. _

_Lottie and Jeni and Verity had found another girl recently, a girl called Jack. She hadn't been changed by the vampire who had changed us, but the girls thought that she could help with our search. She had no particular gift, but she was particularly good at fighting dirty. She was a fast runner, with good hand-eye coordination and quick reactions: even for a vampire. _

"You have gifts that I've never encountered before. How..."

Jacob sighed. "When I was alive... no, let me start again. As a young boy, I used to play hide and seek with my friends. I always used to win, even when I was just hiding behind a door. I had a knack of creeping around, making myself unnoticeable; as if I never existed in the first place. My mother used to run around the house, calling my name. Even though I was standing right in front of her. It used to drive me mad: I wanted to be seen and _noticed_, but no-one did notice me. In the end, that was what killed me: I was taken in broad daylight by a vampire named Aro. You may have heard of him."

"Yes. The Volturi?"

"Yes."

Jacob regarded me with ice-blue eyes. "I'm sorry, Victoria."

"For what?"

"For abandoning you in the first place. For bringing you here, to this house with my slightly insane wife. And for bringing you into this mad, immortal world."

I looked at him, almost squinting in my attempt to scrutinise his face. "That's ok. I owe you for saving me. Without you... I wouldn't be here right now. I would be little burnt pieces at the bottom of a bonfire. So, at the moment, your wife is one of the tiny, minute problems of my life." I smiled reassuringly at him. "So really, don't worry about it."

The lines on his stony face smoothed over as his visible stress disappeared. "Thanks Victoria." He smiled as I shifted on the sofa.

"No problem." I got up as Miranda glided into the room, her face composed.

"We have to go now, darling." She almost gushed the words in her rush to grab the attention of Jacob. "The table will be gone if we don't go now."

"Sure, love." Jacob winked at me. "Bye, Victoria."

"Bye Jacob."

They both walked out of the room, arm in arm, the perfect couple.

As I watched them leave, I felt a pang inside me: whether of jealousy or something else, I didn't know. I had never had a _very _close relationship with James: sure, we loved each other, but not as much as these two did.

As I pondered this, I walked upstairs to the room that I had been 'allocated'. It was beautiful, although much the same as the other rooms in the house.

However, I couldn't stay here forever. I had to leave soon: the house gave me the shivers. Though it had originally been mine, I couldn't stay here. It had too many memories of my former life that I couldn't cope with. And it wasn't that I didn't like Jacob or wasn't thankful to him in any way; it was simply that I had become too used to moving around all the time, not settling down even once. Even in my human childhood we regularly changed location to avoid taxes and debtors.

As I realised this, something else also occurred to me.

Edward was the only static thing in my life apart from me.

He was always following me, chasing me, willing me to make a mistake so that he could tear me apart.

And then I wondered, when would he finally catch up? When would my life end, my death arrive?

When would the end come?

**Hello dear readers!**

**2, 023 words! :) **

**After my Duke of Edinburgh weekend last weekend I went straight to Spain for a week: which is why I haven't updated for so long!**

**As you have probably seen, I have taken my stories off 'hiatus' mode, so more chapters will be coming shortly!**

**As always, please read and review: even if you have criticism I would love to hear from you: but please, if you say something like 'this story is boring' please tell me why you think it is! **

**Another chapter will, hopefully, be up shortly.**

**Xanthemj**

**A/n Apologies for any breach of copyright or anything like that with 'American Couples dot com': when I wrote this my Internet was down and I couldn't search it! Many apologies.**


	12. The Big Apple

Chapter Twelve

**Five years later**

I sat in the penthouse suite of the Hotel Carlyle, 35 East 76th Street, surrounded by new clothes which I had strewn about the place like pieces of tissue paper. I had chosen the name of the hotel for its nostalgic link with Carlisle Cullen, and also for its link with Thomas Carlyle. Carlyle had been a historical philosopher who campaigned against the 'effete aristocracy'; that is, the rich people who didn't do anything for themselves. I liked this. It gave me a sense of righteousness in the world.

It had been five years since I had walked out of Jacob's house. Since then I had been all over America and Europe: Russia, Portugal, France, Spain, Texas, Maryland, Alaska, Tennessee... but all the travelling had reminded me too much of the days running from Edward. I finally stopped in New York, and had waited for him ever since.

The hotel had a spa, fitness centre, restaurant, room service, limousine service... all the mod cons. The sheets were silk, the TV was a 108 inch plasma. My penthouse suite was about the size of my old London house, all on one floor. The one difference was that it was much more lavish, there was room service, and it was much, much more expensive. It was very unlike my old homes.

_Jack had returned from her little hunting trip. Lottie, Jeni, Verity and I regarded her with disapproval._

"_You look a state." Lottie said it coldly. "What have you been doing?"_

_Jack smiled. "Only going out for a little snack. And I met some nice people along the way; they may be able to help us out of this," she looked around, "this hell-hole of a place."_

_Jeni, Verity and I stiffened. The abandoned warehouse we had found was the closest thing we had had to a home for a very long time. We had made it homely in the last few months: there were shawls over the damp in the walls, and what little money we had found lying in the streets we had used to buy small bits of wood to cover up the holes in the walls. We may have been cold-hearted vampires, but we liked to live as cosily as we could. _

"_We're not moving," snarled Verity. "You can't make us."_

"_Oh can't I?" Jack smiled again, baring her sharp white fangs but keeping her face smooth, with no trace of humour. "You'll see."_

And Jack had killed Lottie, Verity and Jeni. Ripped their heads off while they fought her and the other vampires she had 'recruited'.

I often hungered for company now. Just to be able to run with someone, to hunt with them, to talk to them.... I wanted James. He had always been there for me, and now....

I walked back into the room as a porter knocked on the door.

"Come in," I called.

As the door swung open, I realised I had made a terrible mistake.

It was Edward.

**Dear all,**

**Yes I am back! But not for long as I have mock GCSEs very soon...**

**Apologies for the very short chapter. I am trying to get this story finished after loads of you emailed in to ask me to do more! I am working on the end now.**

**Be back soon,  
Xanthemj**


	13. Finale

Chapter Thirteen

"Hello Victoria." He said it with a smirk.

Then he leaped onto me, biting at my neck with his teeth, snarling while I fought him off with my hands.

"Edward!" I screamed, hands flailing. "At least let me die with some dignity!" (Of course, at this time I was still in my dressing gown).

He stopped. And looked at me, with those annoyingly beautiful topaz eyes. I found myself wondering if he liked the way I looked: but no. He wanted to kill me – what was I thinking of? Edward was trying to kill me because I had killed his one true love. Even after many years, he was still seeking me in order to avenge her death.

I envied Bella. She had had love. I wasn't sure that James actually had been in love with me. He just wanted me there to... make him look good. Better. Good.

I walked through to the other room, Edward following me closely.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, following me through to the bedroom.

"I want to have some clothes on when I die. Unless, of course, I'm dead now. Which technically means I'm going to die a second time. Oh, this is all too confusing: when I'm decapitated, I'd like to be clothed. Capisce?"

Edward frowned, still following me. "I should kill you." He snarled the words, curling his lip to reveal his white teeth. "Right now."

"Well don't mind me darling. I'll just be a sec." I kept on walking, careful not to increase my pace or show any signs of stress. I would _not _cave in. I would be strong until the end.

He stood in the corner as I slung on a shirt and some shorts, being careful to keep my back to him at all times, watching me with narrowed eyes.

"Done yet?" He snarled.

I turned to face him.

"Yes."

He leapt at me, arms outstretched, teeth poised to rip and tear and bite, eyes full of hate and passion. I neatly sidestepped and ran back out to the balcony. Still barefoot, I flung myself off the balcony into the air above the traffic.

He looked after me in disbelief for a second, then followed, jumping over the railings that wouldn't even have stopped a child from walking off the edge of the concrete.

We fell for what seemed like hours, but what was actually only a couple of seconds. My hair flew behind me as I fell, and as I looked around I could see the floors of buildings rushing past. I looked down, trying to see whether I was going to land on anyone, whether I was going to put myself in a whole lot of trouble. Thankfully I seemed to be aiming for the top of a goods truck, the back presumably filled with crates of food or toys or perhaps even TVs. A soft landing would be preferable, even if I was immortal and would survive anything anyway.

I fell through the canvas of the truck with a thud, landing on crates of tomatoes. Great. I clambered out of the back as Edward also fell through the ceiling, and started running along the street covered in tomato juice. Disgusted people jumped out of the way as my feet hit the ground hard, almost slipping on the tomato juice covering me. I hurtled past faces, cars, buildings, streets, parks, gardens, adults, children, dogs, cats, food stalls and tourist stalls. It was completely different from the mossy green Surrey wood which I had run through so many years ago. So many things had passed since then: too many to count or even remember them all.

I came to a dead end. It was surrounded by buildings that seemed to be bigger than anything I had ever encountered. There was no escape. I turned round, breathing heavily, breathing in what I knew would be the last few breaths of my existence on this earth.

He stood there, watching me with cold eyes. His hands, half curled into fists, hung loosely at his sides, and his legs were shoulder-width apart, ready to move at any time. His lips were pulled back to reveal white teeth.

"This is it, Victoria," he said quietly. "It's time."

"I know!" I screamed the words, tears flowing down my cheeks from the sheer desperation of clinging to life, making even a few more seconds worth it, the tears flowing into my mouth and making every word taste bitter and salty. "I have loved this life! There is nothing you can take away from me that I haven't already lost. I have loved, I have lost, I have hid, I have run, I have killed, I have saved, I have fought, and now I am here."

His eyes never left my face. I felt frustration and desperation build within me, and I screamed. "Kill me now!"

He didn't move.

Then he did.

And Jack, the Jack from my past, the Jack who killed Verity, Jeni and Lottie, the Jack who had taken everything from me, the Jack who I hated; jumped in front of me.

**Hello, and welcome to the very last chapter of Victoria! I hope you enjoyed it **

**Just a quick thank you to all those who have reviewed, sent me emails, helped me with chapters, suggested endings and generally helped me to finish this fanfic!**

**I am currently working on a new NCIS fanfic, although it may not come up on fanfiction for a while as 1) I am doing my GCSEs now (!) and 2) I plan to write it all out first and then make you beg for more. So in the (hopefully) near future you might see a few chapters popping up from me.**

**Thanks again for reading my fanfic, **

**Xanthemj**


	14. Endnote

**Endnote**

At one point, there was only blackness. Then there was light, blinding light, so bright that I couldn't look into it.

And I saw a multitude of colours in the light, from ochre to saffron, topaz to sapphire, emerald to maroon. The light shimmered, ever-changing, ever-moving. Ribbons fluttered across my line of vision.

And there was darkness again.

Then there were leaves. Red, orange, yellow, green leaves. And they flew down and settled, covering me in a layer of velvet.

And there was darkness.

There was heat. It seared through my body, purging me of the cold, pushing out all thought from my mind, burning me.

Then there was darkness.

Then there was rain. It fell softly, dousing me in its cold wetness, washing me clean, pushing the hair back from my face, quenching my thirst.

There was darkness.

And there was a face in the darkness. And it smiled.

**That was the final chapter of Victoria. I hope you enjoyed it.**

**Massive thanks to all who have read Victoria; all who have read, reviewed, and kept me going. Special mention must go to vivelarevolution, Jeni, Emma, MandyJane, and everyone else who has asked me to keep going and who have helped me to proof-read, thought of new ideas, new directions for the story, and who are the best friends I could ask for. Thanks.**

**Xanthemj.**


End file.
